On August 8, 2017, Kate Valentine and Fahrusha were proud to welcome listener and author Lucina Stone to “Shattered Reality Podcast”. She is the author of the Daniela Story series of young adult fiction. The first book of the series is called Santa Muerte and was inspired by our show “Shattered Reality Podcast”, and more specifically by the episodes dealing with Mexico. Lucina is an avid listener to our podcast. We are elated to have inspired someone to the degree that they felt impelled to write a series of books!

Lucina, from Morris County, New Jersey, was the 2016 winner of two awards of the prestigious International Latino Book Awards for Best Sci/Fi novel and Best New Author. Santa Muerte- The Daniela Story (Story Merchant Books Press, 2016 release) tackles diversity in science fiction and fantasy by using folklore and culture. She holds a MA in Clinical Counseling and is a Licensed Professional Counselor.

On this episode we discuss the genesis of this novel. Lucina paid attention to her dreams, which gave her some ideas for the novel. Her novel is very inclusive giving important roles within it to women, Latinas and LGBT people. We here at “Shattered Reality Podcast” support inclusivity, especially as we are both women. Much of the story is about the relationship between mothers and daughters as cultures change through time and country, but there are some surprising science fiction plot twists that will amaze the reader.

Note: Fahrusha mentioned Carlos Castaneda, the Yaqui shaman Don Juan, and the female followers of Castaneda, but could not remember the name of the one whose books she had read and found intriguing. That woman was Florinda Donner, who was actually married for Castaneda for a number of years and member of a Nagual group that surrounded him, including also Taisha Abelar. “They were known as the witches, and two of them, Florinda Donner-Grau and Taisha Abelar, vanished the day after Castaneda’s death, along with Cleargreen president Amalia Marquez and Tensegrity instructor Kylie Lundahl. A few weeks later, Patricia Partin, Castaneda’s adopted daughter as well as his lover, also disappeared.” (From the Salon article by Robert Marshall.)